Spy chief's Radio Zet interview on Russian spy affair

Zbigniew Siemiątkowski, the former head of Intelligence, during an interview for Radio ZET revealed yesterday that when Intelligence leant about Jan Kulczyk's meeting in Vienna with Russian spy Wladimir Algnov, it analyzed three hypotheses: that the spy might have planned to cause some confusion on the Polish political scene; that he might have said something about bribery among Polish officials; or the meeting might have concerned business. Siemiątkowski also pointed to the fact that Kulczyk's and Alganov's versions about the real aim of the meeting differ. Alganov claimed that it mainly concerned the sale of the Gdańsk Refinery. According to him, Kulczyk said that he could change the decision of the Treasury Minister, who at the time was deciding that the refinery would not be sold. Alganov stated that Kulczyk told him that he had the support of "The First", which Alganov understood to be president Aleksander Kwaśniewski. Kulczyk, on the other hand, claimed that the meeting concerned the buying of Russian electric energy by Kulczyk's company. (Gazeta Wyborcza, October 25, p. 7) A.F.